Survival of the Smartest
by 00nighthowler00
Summary: Welcome to my hell. I'm Lucy Heartfilia. My school believes firmly in a tactic that is slowly spreading to the rest of the world; pain is the best teacher. My sister, Daisy, and I have always dreaded the test. Who wouldn't? Death is a punishment, after all. The test has been put off fpr a while now due to renovations, but guess what? It's our turn. (Y'all choose ship)


**Y'ALL HAVE ONE CHAPTER TO DECIDE THE SHIP. VOTE FOR STILU, ROLU, OR NALU. Other than that, I will give you one trigger warning. There is abuse and depression in this story. I still don't own Fairy Tail (I WILL TAKE IT ONE DAY, HIRO MASHIMA!) Check out goshinote please and reveiw!**

My pale arms curled around Daisy's little waist and hoisted her off the ground, effectively bringing her frighteningly small frame to my chest, burying my face in her silky brown hair. Her tremors shook through my own body as I tried and miserably failed to comfort the broken first-grader. Her tear-stained face shattered my heart as I looked up from the comfort of her scent.

"L-l-l-lushy?"

My knees gave out as she stuttered my name, and her normally bright, hopeful blue eyes filtered with recognition. I curled into my knees, using Daisy as a teddy bear. My tousled blonde locks covered my face, but they did nothing to stop a small trickle of blood that trailed slowly down the side of my face.

It took a while for the pained moans that were leaving my and my sister's mouths to recede into sniffles. I slide my arms off of my precious sibling and turned her around to face me.

"Listen, Daisy-"

I had begun to confess what I was planning on actually doing about our current situation when she leaned into me and lifted her chubby little hand, wiping the bloody substance trickling done to my face of.

"Lushy, why are you bleeding? Are you okay?"

Her face came out slowly and timidly, shattering me with every word. My slender fingers lifted her face to look me in the eyes.

"Daisy, I am okay, I promise. I just fell down the stairs at school again," I reassured the smaller girl. I didn't tell her exactly _why_ I fell, but those are the little details.

The truth? Mirajane Strauss, the most popular girl at Fairy Tail High, and her little group, Cana Alberona, Juvia Lockser, and Lisanna Strauss, pushed me from behind, causing me to drop all of the books I had been carrying, fall down the stairs, hit my head, and have the nail in the wall that everyone purposely avoids add another deep gash to the skeleton that I call my body. This one now stretched from my thigh to my ankle, both previously riddled with cuts and scars that had been inflicted by Father, Mira's group, my teachers, and myself as a way of teaching me a lesson.

You see, my school, Fairy Tail High, believes that pain is the best teacher. Of course, they do tell you the things that you need to know. But they never repeat themselves and they slap you and threaten you and beat you in front of everyone as means of teaching a lesson when you answer something wrong. Every year, we take a test. If you pass, this torture keeps up. If you get below an A, it ends. It all ends. You say your goodbyes and you accept your new fate. Or they increase the pain. Your choice.

For the past few years, the school has had renovations, specifically making room for the first-graders that they were now accepting into their ranks. I am in ninth-grade. They used to only give the test to seventh-graders and above, which is why I have never taken it before. However, they always make you watch how frightened the kids being tested looked, and what happened as they were dragged away. The failed students would scream and yell and beg for a second chance, and the teachers would simply ignore them and continue calling out their failures.

The cruel principal, Jude Heartfilia, who also happens to be my father, loves watching the younger kids face as they concur with horror at the scene being played out in front of them.

And guess what. It's our turn.

(I wanted to end it there cuz its a cliffhanger but i wont do that to y'all)

Two days later

It's Monday. It's finally here. I groggily shoved my thread-bare comforter off of Daisy and I and rolled over so that I was sitting on the edge of the bed. I reached up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes, not even bothering with the mess that was my hair. My short shorts and loose T-shirt just added to the tired look. I left Daisy sleeping, as she was easy to get ready in the morning, and stumbled my way into the bathroom.

My half-lidded, mocha brown eyes studied my reflection in our cracked mirror. It makes sense, right? My too-rich-for-his-own-good dad owns the biggest mansion in Fiore, and my sister and I live like street rats. We do our best, though. And the wonderful servants that my father has hired often sneak behind his back and help us out, like cleaning our uniforms and bringing Daisy treats, which surely makes life here a bit more bearable.

I turned my head slightly, and silently thanked the gods for Loke, our perverted servant that always gives us a helping hand. My uniform was folded neatly on top of the closed toilet sit, right alongside to Daisy's.

After the white polo shirt was tucked into the waistband of my knee-length maroon skirt and my knee-high white socks were matched with my black slip-on shoes, I decided to do something about my hair. I didn't have to worry about the cut on my leg from yesterday bleeding through my socks thanks to Virgo, my loyal maid; she had dressed it the night before. Now, the bandages blended in perfectly with my stockings. After much struggling and fighting with my rat's-nest that I call hair, it now lay straight down my back, glistening in the dim light. My body went into auto-mode, which consisted of slender fingers deftly weaving my golden locks in a single french braid that tumbled down to my lower back. Deeming myself presentable for the day, turned to go wake Daisy when it hit me. I had known this all along, but I guess I didn't really process it until now.

Today decides it all.

 **BEFORE any of you all start flippin out at how short this was, I had to end it there until y'all decide on a ship. NOT MY FAULT! Decide between StiLu, RoLu, or NaLu. This chapter is your deadline. DO IT!**


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